The Beauty of the Screen Name

A screen name provides you anonymity, which can be a powerful tool. Perhaps I'm overly cautious, but I was leery about putting myself out there on the internet for all to see. This is one reason that I've been considering starting a blog for months before starting one. It's why Polly's blog was, and is, so enticing to me. You can have a voice, be out there, but not be concerned that it's going to come back to bite you in the butt. There are certain people like my boss and clients I work with, that I do not want to know me so intimately. I want to put my politics, parenting philosophies and beliefs out for people to consider and discuss, but without being judged or persecuted by people in my personal life. And yes there are those few who know who I really am, but I trust them with my life. And they can judge me all they want as long as they liquor me up first.

The power of Googling a person's name is a bit scary. You can find out more than you want to know about a person. My husband Googled the name of a potential client he was meeting with once and found a scathing letter from the guy's wife out in cyberspace. Turns out he was going through a messy divorce, leaving his wife for his business partner, they'd been having an affair.

Now you can't control what other people may say about you online, but you can control what you say online, or what you write and what name it's under. Not that I plan on writing about any affairs, but some would judge me even harder for being an atheist, a democrat, pro-choice and supporting gay marriage. And I suppose I could have done what many bloggers do, and just use my first name, because honestly it's going to be hard to sort through all the Liz's or Rita's or what have you, and know you have the right one.

So, I guess what it really comes down to is that it's fun. Bookgirl, Polly and I (and Dol too but I don't know her quite as well, though she was the one with me when I got my tattoo) go back a long way and we all have a flair for the dramatic. We love to read and write. Bookgirl markets books, Polly is writing a novel (I wouldn't out her but it's already come up in her blog), and I'm a former English teacher. We were all involved with the drama club, poetry club and school newspaper. In a way I think this is just the next phase for us, continuing what we've always done. Perhaps it's not my place to speak for them, but I'm sure they'll let me know if I've spoken out of turn.

Blogging is a creative outlet for me (I imagine it is for anyone who blogs) and I enjoy my screen name. It's a chance to be me, but perhaps a slightly more bold, creative and wonderful me. It's liberating and a bit intoxicating. It's been a long time since I've journalled or written much of anything (except for the few months I was laid up with a broken ankle). I don't think I'd realized how much I've missed it.

Comments

[Bookgirl]

xx years of friendship says you can speak for me all you want. I orginally had the number in there, but it was so big it made me throw up a little in my mouth, so I had to delete it. Let's just say the first number was a 2...

And I agree entirely. When I started blogging, it was because I needed to write again, but wasn't quite ready yet to work on the novel everyone who knows me insists I have inside. The keeping in contact/making new friends aspect was really just a perk. A great perk, but a perk.

[Liz]

Diosa - thanks for explaining. Where were you in january before I exposed myself and my damn journal to the internet? I feel naked. I googled myself and myself came up in the links. I'm screwed, diosa, s-c-r-e-w-e-d!

[Diosa]

Liz, I doubt it's the end of the world. But there's nothing to say that you can't give yourself a screen name anytime you want. Maybe eventually archive the stuff with your name, take it down or put it in password protected area. That's the thing about the internet, it's always changing and evolving.